Adventure Bike Ride

 

     I had a chance to borrow a Kawasaki KLR 650 for a day in the dirt.  My friend, Greg, rode his BMW R 1250 GS.  We rode on Highway 101 north about 75 miles to Potter Valley, California. The end of the paved road begins a vast network of Forrest Service Roads in the Mendicino National Forrest. 

          The road from Potter Valley to Lake Pillsbury is a well-maintained dirt road. 

          From Lake Pillsbury at an elevation of 1800ft, Mt Hull road heads north and rises steeply to about 6800ft. This road is poorly maintained, rocky and rough, in other words, perfect adventure bike road. 

          Near the summit of Mt Hull, I started seeing some snow and eventually the road was blocked by snow, or at least more than I was ready to deal with.

     

     

     The views on the ride back down were pretty spectacular.

     We rode about 150 miles of pavement and another 75 miles of dirt roads. Some well-maintained some rough. I liked the KLR, it is very tall, but comfortable. It's a little slow for long distance highway travel but on dirt roads it rocks.

     I have considered heavy weight adventure bikes to be great on the highway but way too heavy and tall for anything but good dirt roads. While I haven't changed that opinion, I think I'll have to give middleweight adventure bikes another look.